Scouting Report: Mark Andrews, TE

With Gronk threatening retirement, could the Patriots look earlier in the draft than most expect at the Tight End position?

NEPD Staff Contributor: Jeff Fidler

Forward by Mike Gerken

With just a little over a month away until the actual draft, it is getting down to crunch time. I want to thank all of our loyal readers for checking out the site each and everyday. I also want to thank our commenters. With each post we get some great conversations and some great information on lesser known prospects. I know I write here, but I am always learning from the people who come here and give out information. I also want to thank Jeff, he has been working hard to get out some awesome Scouting Reports. They are thorough and well thought out and he has allowed me to work on some other things that should be coming out shortly. I think over the next month, we will be putting out some valuable information, including my Top 100, my annual big board series, plus Jeff has some things planned as well.

As for today’s scouting report, Jeff takes a look at a prospect that is at a sneaky need position in my opinion. Something is going to have to give with Allen and his cap hit, either a restructure or a release all together. If the latter is the case, then there will be a gap at the backup Tight End position. This doesn’t even account for Gronk and his future in football. Now, I think he has every intention of playing this year, but I think his shelf life on this team and in the NFL is shorter than one might expect for a 28 year old. Looking to plan for the future might mean drafting a guy now.

Background

From Arizona

Played WR & held the Arizona high school record for career rec’s, before Kade Warner, son of Kurt, broke his record.

Has Type-1 diabetes & has had several episodes of low blood sugar at Oklahoma.

Several family members in the medical profession

2017 John Mackey Award winner

had offers from Notre Dame, Michigan, Nebraska, Alabama, Ohio State and USC.

Strengths

Very good H/W/S @ 6’5/255 – 4.67

Route Running, Physicality & Red Zone –Sly R/R that brings a T.E.’s body w/ a WR’S mind set & skill set. Physical off l.o.s. & will use rip/swim to create space. Very nice, subtle head/shoulder/hip fakes. Very good job selling fake blocks to get open. Adapt at finding sweet spots in zone. Will use stride length & power to glide past defenders or lull them to sleep before bodying them off at the top of his route. Can work short/intermediate areas, flat, seem, crossers across the shallow zone. Red Zone threat at has 21 TD’s over the last 3 years. 1/5 rec went for a TD. Tough player that will catch knowing he’s about to take a hit. Will try to drag defenders & lay out for a 1st down. Lots of upside as a r/r.

Good, natural hands. Will extend out from body to make a catch. Will extend above his head to haul in a pass. Good body control. Looks to have soft hands.

Blocking – At times Andrews looks to be a serviceable blocker that will get his hands inside & shield off a defender. Mostly out of the slot. Ability is there to handle DB’S.

Y.A.C. – Surprising cuts, dodges defenders & brings decent r.a.c. ability. Def can make a few LB’s miss & is a long strider in the open field.

Lined up & was productive, whether blocking or rec, in the backfield, slot, inline.

Concerns

Doesn’t show the “fire” you want blocking in terms of driving through his man & manhandling him. Technique could be better as well.

He’s not going to threaten the 3rd level or run away from most DB’s if their in close quarters. Doesn’t have suddenness or explosion.

Will have the occasional drop looking at what hes going to do after the catch.

Summary

Andrews is a smooth moving Flex T.E. w/ some blocking ability, upside, if he commits to it. The better he gets the bigger his role will be, the more packages he can get in on. He’s not going to blow anyone away w/ speed or explosion but rather shifty, opportunistic route running & sneaky athletic ability. Not to mention good hands & toughness. He’ll contribute day 1 & has

Traits That Translate

Here are some clips that show off Andrew’s speed route running & y.a.c. ability.

Love how Andrews lets Carter lean heavily into him to get his weight committed inside before deftly swimming to break the jam and create separation on the out break pic.twitter.com/nEhSAKagCB

Seeing a lot of NFL writers with their mocks having DT Maurice Hurst falling to second round. I think Pats pull trigger if he is there. Bill has no fear taking a risk with huge upside if he is healthy. Disruptive Tackle who can play in a 4 man front.

Agree. It was important to get at least one of our URFA OT’s back. this gives us more flexibility now with our 1st rd draft pick. Now I have to reassess my latest mock again. Let everyone know what I do later.

1st – LB Leighton Vander Esch, Boise State: Athletic linebacker who’s good against the run and in coverage. With Marquis Flowers back, I think we would be set at the position for the present AND the future if we take a linebacker early.

2nd – EDGE Josh Sweat, Florida: All around edge player. Crazy athletic and strong. Can speed rush or power rush, set the edge, and cover. The fact that we could get this sort of player here is incredible value. Obviously, he has an injury history but it’s very apparent that those issues are behind him.

2nd – QB Kyle Lauletta, Richmond: Potential QB of the future.

3rd (trade) – SS Kyzir White, West Virginia: Big, athletic, all around safety. Since Chung has signed an extension, finding his successor isn’t as urgent, and therefore we could look for a safety later on day 2 as opposed to earlier. I’m not sure where White will be drafted, but there should definitely be some decent safeties to choose from at this point in the draft.

4th – OT Joseph Noteboom, TCU: Very athletic, long tackle who is also strong. Was said to be inconsistent but has the tools to play anywhere on the line, including left tackle. He would compete with Garcia, Croston, and Tobin for a backup OT spot.

6th – RB Ryan Nall, Oregon State: All around bruising running back with low fumble rate. He could play tight end or h-back too because of his size, athleticism, receiving ability, and blocking ability. Super valuable offensive weapon this late in the draft.

7th – Trade: This pick may be better used for trading up in the draft or trading for a player on another team.

TE Martellus Bennett – I’m still hoping Bennett returns to the Pats for cheap. If he does I think we’re fine at the position. If he doesn’t I think we’re better off trading for a TE than drafting one.

OT Cameron Fleming/OT LaAdrian Waddle – As far as left tackle goes, I think we’ll be fine with what we’ve got, assuming we resign one of Fleming or Waddle. Assuming one of them signs, that player would be competing with Cannon, Thuney, Croston, Garcia, Tobin, and a potential draft pick for the spot. I’m led to believe at least ONE of these players will emerge as a capable starter at LT.

Korey Toomer – With Hightower, Van Noy, M. Flowers, and Roberts all basically locks at linebacker for the Pats, and D. Rivers/Langi potentially fighting for one spot on the roster, that really leaves one roster spot left at the linebacker position. At this point, I would prefer if the Pats filled this spot with an early draft pick instead of signing another in free agency, but if they wanted to do both to maybe give Roberts some competition I think Toomer is the best available right now.

When I realized I wanted Derwin James to be our first round pick it was still possible he might fall to 31. Now CBS has him projected to go No. 2 overall. Lamar jackson has moved up a good bit also. Initially it was speculated that if the saints didn’t grab him he might fall out of the first round. They must have had a great combine.